The disappearance of Neanderthals is frequently attributed to modern humans' greater intelligence, making them more efficient as hunters. But anthropologists from Harvard University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Haifa and Hebrew University argue the hunting practices of Neanderthals and early modern humans were largely indistinguishable. That conclusion leads to a different hypothesis, also based on archaeological data, to explain the disappearance of the Neanderthals. "Each population was equally and independently capable of acquiring and exploiting critical information pertaining to animal availability and behavior," write the anthropologists.

The researchers used archaeological data from a Middle- and Upper-Paleolithic rock shelter in the Georgian Republic dated to 60,000-20,000 years ago to contest some prior models of the perceived behavioral and cognitive differences between Neanderthals and modern humans. The researchers suggest social developments that led to more routine use of distant resources, and a more extensive division of labor, might better explain the disappearance of Neanderthals than simply their hunting practices.

View: Full Article | Source: Physorg

its hypothesized that if the neanderthal population was 2-5% higher, they'd still be around today.

Hmm when did the Neanderthals actually disapear in history for many thousands of years ago?

Well let's see... from the article... about 20,000 years ago.

Might be somewhat off topic, but I have a question about evolution. If it's all about surviving, then why did we evolve to the point where we question an afterlife? This causes many to want to leave their physical bodies. How is this good for survival?

NEANDERTHALS DID NOT DIE OUT THEY INTERBRED WITH HOMOSAPIANS AND THAT TRIBE MOVED ONWARDS TO ALL EUROPE WERE THEY KEPT BREEDING TILL MODERN TIMES, IN RECENT HISTOREY THE TRUTH HAS BEEN FOUND AND NOT LIKED THAT WHITE EUROPEANS ARE DISENDANTS OF A TROGLODITE HUGE CREATURE AND THEREFORE NOT FULLY HUMAN, IN OLD TIMES THE BRITISH THAT CAME ACROSS THIS REMOVED THE EVIDENCE LIKE WHEN IN INDIA DUREING THE RAJE THE THOUGHT OF BROWNS AND BLACKS AS REAL HUMANS AND THEM NOT ENRAGED THEM, THE SPANISH DID THE SAME WHEN RED OLD INDIAN DOCUMENTS BURNED NEARLY ALL EVIDANCE OF AS EVEN OLDER CIVILITATION THAN THERESE, MY DEARS THE TRUTH IS HARD BUT TRUE.

Nah, they'd have been conquered, slaughtered, enslaved and bred out before the year 5,000 BC hit.



You expect anyone to believe, let alone understand, the gibberings of someone who types with caps lock on and thinks "therese" is a word?

I don't see what you're getting at. We evolved greater intelligence (which does, undoubtedly, help our survival), questioning the afterlife is just a consequence of that.

The fact that it 'causes many to want to leave their physical bodies' would be irrelevant unless there was mass suicide.



The extinction of Neanderthals occured around 25,000 years ago, what possible evidence would there be for the British to remove?

Um, first of all. It is considered shouting when you type in all capital letters like that. And shouting is rude. So please, type in regular case.

I don't know where you're from, so perhaps you are not fluent in the English language. Some would chastize you for poor spelling or grammar but I suspect that English is not your primary language and you are struggling with it. However, please use periods ( . ) to break apart sentences. It makes reading much easier.

Finally, your claim of interbreeding has been postulated for a long time but never proven. Or disproved, for that matter. The Webster's dictionary defines "troglodyte" as a person who lives in a cave. Of course, we're descended from troglodytes, by that definition. Caves provided security and protection from the elements. Without caves, the human species likely would not have survived. Living in a cave does not make you subhuman; way back when it made you the smartest human in the area.
I don't follow your point on browns and blacks.
What evidence remains of a civilization far older than the Mayas, who fluorished from about 300 to 900 A.D.?
I thought Maya culture was considered the oldest of the advanced cultures in North America. Were there others before them?

Gatofeo,



I think the Olmec culture either slightly predates or was contemporary with the Maya. Certainly they predate the AD dates of the Classic Mayan culture you stated.

truth111 - welcome to the forum. Any 'evidence' we would have of the interbreeding of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis would probably come from genetic analysis and I don't think these techniques were available to either the British in the sub-Continent during the Raj period or the Spanish during their conquest of the New World. I would doubt as well that any cave daubings from the period circa 60 - 20,000 BCE would be accepted as evidence of such [interbreeding].

We are all human, no matter the colour of our skin, and the attitude and actions of the Europeans in times past does not change that fact.